Perfection Personified
by rockstarmentalities
Summary: Azula's mind had been an impenetrable force to be reckoned with. A short-ish one shot, comparing Azula's breakdown to the fall of Ba Sing Se. Enjoy!


_And the Avatar fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell!_

Azula's mind had been an impenetrable force to be reckoned with. She let no one see her pain, her insecurities, and her fears. She was a super soldier with a one track mind mentality: gaining control of the world. Her father would see what a perfect daughter she was, a firebending prodigy with her blue flames and lightning – the cold-blooded fire. A skilled military tactician, she knew war inside and out, able to detect which moves would be to her advantage and which would harm her way to her goals. Years of growing up in war rooms and listening to the Fire Nation generals go over the best way to conquer an Earth Kingdom village here, or to gain control of the elusive Water Tribes, attributed to this.

Her conquering of Ba Sing Se was probably one of her greatest accomplishments in the Hundred Year War. With very little effort on her part, she managed to infiltrate the city, recruit a monstrous force known as the Dai Li, and overthrow the puppet Earth King and the Dai Li's leader, Long Feng. She manipulated her way through everything, barely breaking a sweat. She had known what she was doing; she had anticipated every single person's move, which eventually led to the supposed death of the almighty Avatar, ending the Avatar Cycle in one fell swipe. To everyone in her homeland, she was to be revered even more so – along with her pathetic brother – and the fall of Ba Sing Se would live on forever.

It was strange how Ba Sing Se's destruction reflected the princess's descent into madness. To the world, she could not be broken or tamed. She handed the Earth Kingdom to her father on a silver platter without batting a long, dark eyelash. She was perfection personified. But like the walls of Ba Sing Se, there were flaws in her armor. While the city had the corrupted Dai Li, she had her father expecting nothing less than absolute perfection, the uneven balance of her mother's love and Ursa's disappearance. The drill mirrored her mother leaving slightly, as it had no visible effects to the naked eye, for the insiders of the city at least. No one knew how much it had actually hurt Azula to learn that her mother had abandoned her.

The last stronghold of the Earth Kingdom had been taken down from the inside and Azula was much the same. Mai and Ty Lee had betrayed her… for her _brother_ of all people. People always liked Zuko more and she was just someone to be brushed off and left aside like a piece of dirt. She never showed clarity of mind again. Her father creating the Phoenix King title and giving her his sloppy seconds was just the final straw. Ozai just saw her as an expendable resource, only using her when needed much like Zuko. He had never planned for her to go along with him to finish the Earth Kingdom off. That, similar to the loss of the Avatar for Ba Sing Se, caused her walls to crumble. It was the final piece of the puzzle and seeing Zuko live after taking her lightning for that filthy water peasant was only salt to the wound. He deserved to be dead, after siding with the Avatar and his wretched, miserable group.

At that very moment, the princess realized she was finished. No more crown, no more pampering, no more remnants of her old life. She screeched and screamed, crying hot, stinging tears of anguish. She turned feral, refusing to eat, sleep or drink. Her cries rang throughout the palace, during the restoration of it and Zuko's coronation. It was clear she could not be handled by the servants of the palace and Azula was taken away, far away, to a secluded corner of the Fire Nation. She would not be bothered there, promised her brother, attempting to sooth the anger of the fallen princess. She could rest and learn how to deal with her hurt, anger and pain. It was too late though, her mind had filled with nothing but a black abyss.

_And finally, the perfect princess fell!_

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**A/N: **Whaddup guys! Mm. Yes. Azula is definitely one of my favourite characters in Avatar of all time, and her mental breakdown was absolute perfection. I definitely did not do it justice. Actually, I didn't even do anything justice. I just got this idea the other day, when I realized how much the fall of Ba Sing Se mirrored her breakdown. Unless that's just me seeing things... then this probably doesn't make sense. ...Merr. Anyways, yes. I probably didn't play off Azula well, but whatever. Okay, I'll stop babbling now. c:_  
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Reviews would be lovely! :3


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